It’s funny how things coincide sometimes. A few weeks ago, I was craving Siu Mai. It just so happened a couple of days later, Siu Mai found me. I was flicking through one of my favourite food magazines, Gourmet Traveller, and stumbled upon a recipe for Siu Mai by one of the most well known Asian chefs in Australia, Tony Tan.

I like Tony’s recipes because they can decode the seemingly hard-to-make Asian foods, and bring them into arms grasp of an achievable home cooked meal. I love how Tony describes Siu Mai – that they are to a Chinese person what a meat pie is to an Aussie, and they are considered to be one of the “big three” dim sum by the Cantonese (along with BBQ pork buns and translucent shrimp dumplings called har gau). Read the full article here. So that weekend, I put his recipe to the test.

I was overjoyed with how they turned out – plump, bouncy and tasted better than some of the yum cha/dim sum I ate while touring China in July. Nice work Tony! The recipe was easy to follow, and much easier to make than I expected. I sent this feedback to Tony via Instagram, and he was pleased. Now it’s your turn – have a try and let me know how you go – enjoy and good luck! (@brandothepig)

For added depth of flavour, next time I would experiment with adding toasted sesame seeds, breaking traditional, I know.

½ Carrot – to garnish, finely chopped. Traditionally the garnish is crab roe, but you can substitute with whatever ingredients you prefer

Wonton wrapping sheets [I used Gow Gee wrappers from the local Asian store, but if you have the time, the Gourmet Traveller article also explains how to make them from scratch here]

Method:

Combine all ingredients except the carrots and wonton skins. Marinate in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Spoon 1 tbs of filling onto 1 wonton skin. Pull up the corners and gently mould into a siu mai shape. Just jump in the deep end and you’ll see it’s easier to mould than it sounds. Place the Siu Mai on a plate so the bottom is flattened. See the video here

Add a pinch of the finely diced carrot on top to garnish

Steam for 8-10 minutes until cooked through

Serve with julienned ginger and dipping sauces. I used Sriracha, Chinkiang vinegar and soy sauce